New keyboard is Abbott Tech's type

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, March 7, 2005

Take one look at the letters on a traditional keyboard and you'll see at layout that dates from the mid-1800s.
Who decided little-used Q and W should get prime position on the top row? Why do the columns of letters run on a diagonal?
The whole thing seems to be a hodgepodge.
Now, there's a new keyboard layout that might help fumble-fingered typists get up to speed. There is also only one school in the country to find it - Danbury's Henry Abbott Technical High School.
The old keyboard is called the Qwerty, after the first six letters in the top row. The new one is called the Plum, after the first four letter in the top row.
Therein lies one of the key differences.
The Plum keyboard groups many letters in patterns users might find easier to remember. In addition to "plum" at the top, the middle row of letters spells out "read on this." The last four letters of the alphabet are the last four letters of the bottom row.
Additionally, the keys are closer together. The columns are straight up and down, instead of slanted.
At Abbott Tech, 18 students - made up of both proficient and poor typists - agreed to test the new design.
"The Plum is a lot easier to use to type on. You can remember where the letters are," said Matt Yager, a 16-year-old junior from New Fairfield, who used to hunt and peck on the Qwerty. "In the Qwerty, you don't know where they came up with the layout. It's a bunch of jumbled letters."
Still, Yager said he would try to become proficient on both keyboards because he doesn't plan to walk around with a Plum keyboard in his backpack.
The students began using the new keyboards three weeks ago and will use them through the end of the year. The majority of the poorer typists loved the new design, but it was a harder sell for the proficient ones.
Tim Barnes, a 16-year-old junior from New Fairfield, said he's fast on both of them but likes the Plum better.
"I think it's because most of the letters you learn (to type) on are on the home row and you don't have to move your fingers so much. It's a lot more organized than the other one," Barnes said.
He liked the fact the Plum keyboard users can plug it into any computer without the need for additional software.
Barnes and Yager know keyboard skills are crucial these days. "Every job has a least one computer. Even now when you apply for a job, the application is on the computer," Barnes said.
The design and development of the Plum came from Debra Woods, a legal secretary for 20 years in Washington, D.C., who decided the Qwerty keyboard needed an update.
The original layout kept popular letter combinations far apart, probably to prevent keys from jamming on old-fashioned manual typewriters. There have been past attempts to alter the original design, but Woods went a step further by making easy-to-remember words out of some of the keys.
Kevin Cooper, Abbott Tech's department head for electronic technology, initiated the pilot program after years of frustration with his typing and that of some of his students.
He found the Plum keyboard on the Internet.
"At first I thought it was comical. Then I saw that it was very easy to manage the sequence of keys, which are on a square grid," Cooper said. "Once I can remember the placement, I don't have to look at the keys and I can build speed."
He agreed to have some Abbott Tech students test the Plum keyboards at home as well as in class. "If it's as successful as I think it will be, it would be ideal to start kids in the middle school," Cooper said.
Woods, who is based in Virginia, said she started marketing the keyboard online in September 2003, but this is the first group of students trying it out.
She said she's not trying to replace the traditional keyboard; she just wants to give struggling typists another option. "It's not for people who memorized the traditional keyboard," she said. "But this is so easy to remember."
Jeff Trocolla, a 10th-grader from Danbury said he was a very slow typist on the Qwerty.
"Three weeks ago, I started on the Plum," he said. "At first, it looked a little weird, but it makes a lot of sense because of how it's laid out. I have twice the speed as on the Qwerty."
Steve Iaboni of Monroe and Steven Bowers of Newtown, both juniors, also liked the Plum better. Iaboni said he likes that the columns of keys are straight up and down.
"I'm going to want a Plum laptop since Plum is so much easier to use (that) it's going to be easier to take down notes," he said.
Not everyone was sold on the keyboard. Juniors James Panzica and A.J. Woodend, both of Danbury, couldn't make the switch.
"I learned to keyboard in sixth grade. I know how to type without looking at the Qwerty keyboard. The Plum is too hard for me," Panzica said. "It's weird. It's nothing I can get used to."
Woodend pointed to the Qwerty keyboard in front of him. "This is embedded in my mind. I tried it (Plum) once and said I'd stick with this," he said.
Still, Cooper, the Abbott Tech technology teacher, was glad to try the new keyboard.
"In 10 years," Cooper said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the Plum keyboard is the one that comes with the computer."